karl maenz |
paintings of the spirit within me |
evolution of my painting |
Representational When I re-started painting in 1988, I tried to produce something that resembled a "photographic" representation of what was around me.
The resulting works were far from photographic. But they had a certain charm, and our grandmothers called them masterpieces. My ability to copy representatively is limited by impatience to practice, and I wished to express myself more creatively. And after all, why compete with my own photography. |
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1988, schienhorn, wc, 40x32 |
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Impressionism First excursions are vaguely inspired by the colors and brushstrokes of the likes of Cezanne, Pissarro, Seurat, Van Gogh. |
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1990, binna at imfeld, wc, 40x32 |
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Expressionism What follows, still figurative, is influenced by Expessionism, the aesthetics of early color fields and flat painting (Matisse), cubistic abstraction (Picasso, Braque), and the aesthetic of modern line drawing (Picasso). |
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1990, they tear down berlin wall, wc, 40x32 |
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Watercolors
Oskar Koller's watercolors are mainly abstract figurative, spontaneously done "on site". Koller uses white blanks as a major element, colors are often splashed onto the paper for spontaneity and rhythm. Influenced by his technique, I start opening up whites and paint more spontaneously, most "on site" in the Maldives, the African bush ...
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1993, maledivean beachhut, wc, 40x32 |
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Calligraphics By eliminating all but the essential, I concentrate on the essence related to objects real or imagined. |
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1994, flight, wc, 40x32 |
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Abstract Expressionism
First encounters with gestural Abstract Expressionism (AE), mainly Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Sam Francis. My painting loosens up. Instead of a projection of objects, it becomes an uninhibited reflection of my soul. The essence of my painting changes completely. |
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1997, electric blue, acp, 75x55 |
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Freeing up my watercolors The experience with gestural AE frees up my watercolors, both figurative and non-figurative. |
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2002, incoming tide, acp, 40x32 |
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Gestural AE and Structure My larger AE works, now mainly acrylic on canvas, become very colorful, and combine AE with structural elements, probably somewhat inspired by Paul Klee's earlier (than AE) abstracts and symbols. |
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2003, lake zen binne, acc, 80x60 |
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Automatic writing Automatic writing (AE gestural) and alphabetic writing flows over several colorful panels and beyond their edges, in feeling, tale or song, from my soul, through my body, and onto the canvas. |
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Edit gestural
In a process reversed from abstraction, current paintings start with unexplainable forms that I freely apply to the painting surface. Then structure, rhythm, and tension between colors begin to appear that I try to deal with. I try to stay loose all along, and sometimes I succeed in creating a real but indefinable content. But at times, if consciousness takes over prematurely, the magic is lost. This is my current strategy to confront emptiness when the AE gestural well has dried up. Still lots to do within this approach. And beyond, I might want to explore alternatives, perhaps color field, neo-geometrics, neo-figuratives, or other, who knows where the road leads. |
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2006, king shahirar,acc, 80x80 |
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Between the irreconcilable poles of the lyrical and minimal My excursion into "neo-geo" (2009 - m14) led me to "miss" my lyrical side, and I discovered the crative tension between the two poles (2009 - m12). |
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2009, m14 and m12, ac/can, 100x100 |
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copyright 2006 karl maenz |
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wc - water colors, acp - acrylic on paper, acc - acrylic on canvas, all measures cm |
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